Seven Dreams (41 page)

Serena fixed her
with a steely glare. ‘You’re on
very
thin ice, Miss
Rutherby.’

Egg grinned.
‘Aren’t I always?’

Serena opened her
mouth to reply, but Iyamar thrust a steaming mug at her.
‘Cayluch?’

Serena looked at
Iya. The girl looked relaxed, she realised. So did Egg. The two of
them seemed pretty comfortable together, sitting here drinking
cayluch and chatting. Almost like they were friends. And Tey? Dear,
good-hearted Tey, fiercely loved by every member of his team. He
would be all right, and he would come home, and... and maybe Fabian
would find his way home.

She had her team.
They hadn’t emerged unscathed, but they had emerged. They were
okay. And maybe Fabian would be okay, too.

‘
Cayluch,’ said Serena, accepting the mug with a smile.
‘Cayluch would be just
fine.
’

Teyo arrived at
their Draetre hideaway a few days later, escorted by two G.A.9
operatives and, to Serena’s dismay, Bron. Tey was immediately put
to bed in the room Serena had prepared for him. He looked thinner
and drawn and somehow
smaller
than before, as if he had
collapsed in upon himself. It wasn’t a wholly physical complaint,
Serena guessed, looking at the dark shadows under his eyes and the
deepened lines around his mouth. He mustered only a tired smile for
her as he was helped into bed, and then closed his eyes and fell
swiftly into a deep sleep.

Serena presided
over the two agents as they settled Teyo, ruthlessly ignoring Bron.
The moment Teyo was asleep, she ushered everyone out of his room —
her team, the G.A.9 agents and especially Bron — and shut the door
carefully upon his slumber.

‘
Thank
you for your care of Teyo,’ she said to Bron in a wintry tone, and
turned away. She had no desire for any further conversation with
him.

Bron caught at
her arm, stopping her. ‘Can we talk?’ he said in a low voice. He
cast a glance around at his two colleagues and at Egg and Iya
standing nearby, and added, ‘In private?’

Serena sighed
inwardly. She didn’t want to grant his request, but Bron was
impervious to hints. He would keep coming back until she dealt with
him.

She took him into
the parlour and shut the door on everyone else. ‘What is it?’ she
said crisply.

Bron tried on one
of his charming smiles, and took a step closer to Serena. ‘I was
hoping for a little gratitude,’ he said.

Serena’s brows
shot up. ‘What?’

‘
We
saved your skin back there! Not to mention patching up your man.
Come on, aren’t you just a little bit grateful?’

Serena glared.
‘Is that why you did it? To make me grateful?’

‘
No,
of course not. I did it because it was the thing to do, you know? I
knew your plan couldn’t work. Just the few of you, to infiltrate
the Warren and come out alive? You needed major backup, and you
couldn’t see it. This kind of job just isn’t suited to small
agencies like Torwyne.’

Serena’s stare
grew frostier than ever. ‘So you just arranged it all, without
telling me.’

‘
If
I’d told you, would you have permitted it?’ Bron folded his arms,
unabashed.

‘
Whether I permitted it or not doesn’t seem to have troubled
you at all,’ Serena said coldly. ‘At least I would have been
forewarned. If I couldn’t have stopped you from bringing in your
friends, at least I could have planned for it. As it was, you
turned a shambles into total chaos.’

‘
Hey!’
blurted Bron. ‘That isn’t fair. Can you deny that we got you
out?’

‘
No,’
Serena said, keeping hold of her temper with an effort. ‘I can’t. I
am
grateful to you for Teyo. But that’s all. Who’s to say
that we couldn’t have handled it, and handled it
better
,
without your assistance? You killed several people. Your friends
probably killed more.’

Bron shrugged.
‘Just crooks.’

Serena’s mouth
dropped open in shock, and it took a few moments for her to muster
her thoughts sufficiently to compose a sentence. ‘You’ve treated me
and my agency throughout as — as just —
amateurs
,’ she spat.
‘Small fish, wholly inconsequential. You’ve patronised us since the
beginning. But if you were wondering why I chose to work with
Torwyne instead of G.A.9, you’ve just demonstrated exactly why.
Just crooks?
No one is
ever
disposable. Teyo was
“just a crook”, once. So was Egg. With the right help, they’ve
turned themselves around. They’re some of the best people I know,
and they’re making a difference every day with what we’re doing.’
She drew herself up to her fullest height and stared at Bron with
poisonous contempt. ‘And you and yours would’ve cut them down
without a thought.’

Bron blinked.
‘Well... well, yes, once in a while there’s an exception, and it’s
good that you got to those people.’

Serena’s mouth
twisted. ‘The people you killed? Maybe they could’ve been
“exceptions”, too. There are reasons why we don’t kill. But G.A9
just doesn’t care.’

‘
If I
hadn’t killed those people, they would’ve killed you,’ Bron said,
his face darkening. ‘Or your team. Doesn’t that matter to
you?’

‘
They
might have,’ Serena corrected him. ‘They might not. There might
have been something else we could’ve done, but you gave us no
chance. You went straight for killing.’

‘
Oh,
like
what
?’ Bron said scornfully. ‘What else do you propose
to do when faced with armed assailants?’

‘
You
could’ve aimed to wound and disarm,’ Serena said. ‘You could at
least have
tried.
’ Bron began to say something else, but she
held up a hand. ‘Enough, please. I don’t wish to hear any more.
Thank you for bringing Teyo home, and have a safe journey to
wherever you’re going.’

Bron eyed her.
‘And that’s it?’

‘
That’s it.’

‘
I was
hoping maybe we could get together some time. Have a meal
somewhere. There’s a great place I know not far away, they’ve got
the best ice cream for miles —’

‘
Stop!’ Serena all but shouted the word. ‘Gracious, is there
truly no end to your effrontery? After everything I just
said?’

Bron just blinked
at her, hopelessly befuddled. ‘What? I like you, you’ve got spunk.
We could be good together.’

Serena marched to
the door and yanked it open. ‘Out,’ she hissed. ‘I’m going to hope
very hard that I never see you again, though I imagine that’s too
much to ask.’

Bron sighed and
crossed to the door. ‘If you change your mind —’ he
began.

‘
OUT!’

Bron left, his
face set. Probably he was more displeased by her rejection than her
contemptuous words of before; his was that kind of ego. Serena
watched Bron and his two associates out of the house, then firmly
shut the door upon them all.

Egg and Iya
showed up moments later. ‘We heard all that,’ Egg said.

‘
Tosspot,’ said Iya concisely.

‘
Pisseater,’ added Egg.

‘
Clotpole.’

Egg blinked at
her. ‘Clotpole?’

‘
It’s
an insult,’ Iya explained. ‘It means...’ she frowned, and thought.
‘Actually, I don’t know what it means.’

‘
Did
you make that up?’ Egg eyed her young friend
suspiciously.

‘
Yeah.’ Iya grinned. ‘Might have, at that.’

Serena threw an
arm around each of them and squeezed. ‘You two are a delight,’ she
said. ‘I’m grateful for
you.
’

Teyo slept,
almost uninterruptedly, for the next two days. Serena hovered
outside his room, anxious to learn how he went on but afraid to
disturb him. When he finally showed signs of waking, she almost had
to physically restrain Egg and Iyamar from leaping upon him at
once. Between them, they plied poor Teyo so liberally with food and
drink — everything he could possibly desire, all at once, and
without delay — that he was obliged to beg for mercy.

They gathered in
his room late one afternoon, when his strength was returning and
colour once more graced his drawn cheeks. Everyone wanted to sit
near Teyo; Serena was obliged to cede the bed to Egg and Iyamar,
who perched one on either side of him. She herself settled in an
armchair nearby. Tey’s eyes followed her, but he didn’t say
anything.

The conversation
was frivolous, for a time. Egg and Iya took turns ribbing Tey about
all manner of things, each trying their hardest to draw a smile
from him. It wasn’t an easy task. Teyo had been quiet and withdrawn
ever since his return; his characteristic, easy-going charm had
subsided into silence, and his ready smile had vanished.

‘
Look,’ said Teyo after a while, ‘I know what you’re trying to
do, but I wish you wouldn’t. I...’ He tailed off, his hands
plucking restlessly at the coverlet. ‘I’m going to be... that is,
I... I can’t.’ He paused, his face anguished. ‘I can’t do it
anymore. I’m sorry. I’m off the team.’

Nobody
spoke.

‘
I
know I’m disappointing you,’ Teyo said sadly, ‘and I’m so sorry.’
Serena thought she saw a sheen of tears in his eyes, before he
turned his face away.

Egg laid a hand
over his. ‘Tey,’ she murmured. ‘How did you know Fabe was going to
shoot Halavere?’

Teyo blinked at
her, nonplussed by the sudden conversational diversion. ‘Uh? Oh, I.
Well. That place Fabian was, at that moment? I’ve been there
before.’ He sighed, and seemed to shrivel a little into himself.
‘Years ago. Back when I was Yllandu
.
I, um. I found some of
the people who’d... there was a robbery at my father’s business. He
and my mother and brother were killed, and the place was burned
down. Nobody knew how or why the fire started, but it didn’t
matter. I was burned, but I got out alive. And, years later I... I
found one of them again. And I almost killed him. With a knife.’
Teyo stopped speaking, his eyes unfocused as he stared into the
past. ‘That look on Fabe’s face? I knew it instantly, and I knew he
couldn’t hold back. I also knew... he’d regret it. If he carried it
through. He’s not the type to kill without regrets; he’s got too
much conscience.’

‘
You
regret it, then?’ Egg said, gently.

Teyo nodded. ‘You
can’t repay death with death, it only spreads the misery. Do you
see? I satisfied my rage, but I almost took a life. I could’ve made
a family husbandless, fatherless. He might have been
scum
,
but who was I to decide he deserved to die?’ He passed a shaking
hand over his face. ‘That’s why I’m here. I had to do
something
good, something constructive. I needed to combat
the bad in this messed up world, but without adding to it. Do you
see?’

‘
Totally,’ Egg said.

‘
But I
don’t know if I made the right choice. Have I done enough good, or
have I inadvertently made everything worse? A few days ago, I
almost died. A lot of Yllandu
did
die, including my oldest
friend. And Fabian... Fabian’s broken and gone, partly because I
kept secrets from him. And from you.’ He almost, but didn’t quite,
look at Serena. ‘It’s time I finished this.’

Egg nodded once
with satisfaction, and looked to Serena. ‘Do you want to tell him,
or shall I?’

Teyo blinked.
‘What?’

Serena stood up,
gently shoved Egg aside, and perched carefully on the edge of
Teyo’s bed. ‘First, your friend — Levan? — isn’t dead. He’s pulled
through. And he tells us that the casualties in the Warren weren’t
as bad as they might have appeared. Only three died.’

‘
Three,’ repeated Teyo, dully.

‘
Three,’ said Serena. ‘And according to Levan, they were rotten
to the core and the bastards deserved it.’ She paused. ‘Those were
his words.’

Teyo stared at
her in confusion. ‘You’ve spoken to Levan?’

‘
Yes,
and so will you, quite soon. The other thing is—’

‘
Levan
is
here
?’ Teyo moved as though he intended to get out of
bed. Serena restrained him with a hand to his torso.

‘
Peace, Tey,’ she said softly. ‘Rest first. Levan’s not here,
but you’ll see him soon.’

Teyo subsided,
collapsing back into his pillows. The look of pain in his eyes had
eased a little, and Serena smiled. ‘Now, the next bit: you’ll like
this. We’ve seen Oliver, and—’

‘
Oh,
blazes.’ Teyo covered his face with his good hand. ‘How bad is
it?’

‘
Not
at all bad, in any conceivable way,’ Serena reassured him. ‘Look.’
She put a piece of paper into his good hand, but Teyo merely stared
at it, unseeing. Serena took it back, opened it out and held it
before his face. ‘See what that is?’

Teyo blinked, and
frowned. ‘No.’

‘
What?’ Serena stared hard at Teyo, alarmed. Had something
happened to his eyesight, some unforeseen consequence of his
injuries? ‘Why?’

‘
Because you’re holding it too close to my face.’

‘
Oh.’
She pulled it back a few inches, but Teyo grabbed it from
her.